An Unkindness of Ghosts

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Average customer rating 4.7 (3 comments)

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Since nearly the entire story takes place on a spaceship, it's not incorrect to classify this novel as science fiction, though there are much weightier themes being explored throughout. On the ship, society is stratified much as was the antebellum South, and so racism (rightly) permeates every page, and the painful and ugly reality of that status impacts our heroine over and over, both directly and indirectly. Queer identity is also an distinct element, but more subtly, and someday that won't be an aspect of writing that will be notable, it'll just be one more piece of information that develops the character for the reader. I gave it less than a five-star rating because I was looking for more science-y fiction, but the social fiction in this book resonated and, I imagine, will for many readers be the more attractive aspect of this fine debut effort.

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An Unkindness of Ghosts explores one of my favorite subgenres of fiction - doomed generation ships. The HSS Matilda forms an interesting microcosm that is eerily similar to both the antebellum South and modern America, deeply analyzing classism, oppression, brutality, and how people find ways to grow and bolster one another even when others seek to repress them. It manages to tell a story that is achingly poignant, investing its cast with such humanity that they come to life on the page in some of the most beautiful and most tragic ways - these are characters that will stick with you long after you've closed the page.

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Can a book be both science fiction and historical novel? Before I read An Unkindness of Ghosts, I would have thought it unlikely, but I have learned otherwise in this remarkable novel by Rivers Solomon. The colony ship Matilda is transporting humanity to its salvation among the stars. It has many decks–specialized not just in purpose but in privilege. The higher decks house the White ruling class in opulence and comfort. The middle decks are a sort of business class, guards, merchants, tradesmen, scientists and the like. Aster is from the lower decks where the Black passengers work as slaves, their lives ruled by the guards who routinely rape the women. Yes, this is the antebellum South among the stars. An Unkindness of Ghosts is a magnificent science fiction unlike any other. Matilda, this colony ship, is an ingenious construction that transposes the past into the future, revealing far more about human nature and society than people will find comfortable. The characters are understood through their actions. Solomon trusts her readers to make inferences, to grasp the essentials with exposition and explanation. She shows instead of telling, forcing us to engage deeply, to sometimes go forward without necessarily understanding everything in the moment–just as Aster must. It takes courage to trust readers with uncertainty and the best writers have that courage. I received an e-galley of An Unkindness of Ghosts for review from the publisher through Edelweiss.